Christ's Simple Doctrine Brings His Children Home

Mar 105 min read

Written by April T Giauque

Elder Henry B Eyring General Conference Oct 2024

Teach your Children the doctrine of Christ.

As Elder Eyring sat to speak to us, I thought his body was frail, but his spirit was strong. He needed to share a message from Christ. I must listen.

The first few sentences connected to me instantly.

“All of us have family members we love who are being tempted and tried by the seemingly constant forces of Satan, the destroyer, who would make all God’s children miserable. For many of us, there have been sleepless nights. We have tried to surround the people who are at risk with every force for good. We have pled in prayer for them. We have loved them. We have set the best example we could.”

I knew he was speaking to me. This was an answer to prayer. What was the answer? I need to actively pray for my children and my lost family. I need to think of them, pray for them, hope for them, and pray more for them. Keep them active in my thoughts with faith and prayers. Hope that God can really help them!

Self Examination

There was a rush of a self-examination! Do I believe in a God who is all knowing or not? Can my simple but heartfelt prayer really bring about miracles? I paused…..Yes, I whispered to myself. I did not say it with conviction. This answer was a hit to my heart. Why don’t I believe that God can really do this? Haven’t I read the scriptures repeatedly about the power of prayer—about the doctrine of Christ? Do I really believe that all can be saved? “Yes,” I said again—this time with more conviction.

My heart ached. I could not sit by. My action in life is to love and pray for those—not for my will but because I believe that Heavenly Father wants all of His kids to come home. That’s all I want, too. I know that agency is a factor in all of this, but isn’t God all-powerful as well? It will happen on His timing and in His way, but only if I pray!

To be honest, I lost the rest of the talk until I started studying it again for the Podcast. In this deep study, I found the power of prayer is first, and to teach and share the gospel in love is next.

Elder Eyring then quotes scripture from D&C 18:

“For, behold, I command all men everywhere to repent. … You must repent and be baptized, in the name of Jesus Christ.”

“Ask the Father in my name in faith, believing that you shall receive, and you shall have the Holy Ghost.”

“And now, after … you have received this, you must keep my commandments in all things.”

“Take upon you the name of Christ, and speak the truth in soberness.

“And as many as repent and are baptized in my name, which is Jesus Christ, and endure to the end, the same shall be saved.”

“And now, as the preaching of the word had a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just—yea, it had … more powerful effect upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them—therefore Alma thought it was expedient that they should try the virtue of the word of God.”

In those few passages, the Savior gives us the perfect example of how we should teach His doctrine. This doctrine is that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end blesses all of God’s children.

Teaching Children

We should seize every opportunity to share Jesus's teachings with children. These teaching moments are precious and far fewer than opposing forces' relentless efforts. As a parent, for every hour spent instilling doctrine into a child’s life, there are countless hours of opposition filled with messages and images that challenge or ignore those saving truths.

Elder Eyring asked, “With so little time and so few opportunities, what words of doctrine can I share that will strengthen them against the inevitable challenges to their faith?” This question often crosses my mind. Elder Eyring shared testimony about following the Scripture above and teaching at all times. The words you share today could be the ones they carry with them, and today will soon pass.

Family Story

Mary Bommeli was a member of the Church in Switzerland. As a new convert, she moved to Berlin. She was hired to weave cloth for a family. At this time in the 1850s, teaching the gospel in Berlin was illegal, but Mary’s heart and conviction of the truth could not be stopped. Women gathered to hear God’s doctrine at her loom as she shared the beautiful restored gospel.

Word eventually got out that she was preaching the gospel, and the police took her to jail. In Jail, she wrote the judge a letter teaching the gospel to him. She called him out of the man of evil, the man had done. The Spirit had guided her to say those things that only he understood. The letter was irrefutable evidence that she taught doctrine. She called the judge out in the letter. Later, the police man had to come and release her. The judge was guilty of all she taught him. The doctrine of Christ Saved her; she never stopped teaching.

Love Anyway

As we do our best to teach those we love about the doctrine of Jesus Christ, some may still not respond. Don’t give in to those doubts. Turn to God for help.

“Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; … let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever.”

Elder Eyring told us to pray, talk to God, plead for His help for our loved ones, and thank Him not only for help but also for the patience and gentleness that come from not receiving all we desire right away or perhaps ever. Then I promise you that you will draw closer to Him.

You will become diligent and long-suffering. Then you can know that you have done all that you can to help those you love and those you pray for navigate Satan’s attempt to derail them. The saving will come, but you must act.

“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”

Scriptures Bring Hope!

You can find hope in the scriptural record of families when you look to Alma the Younger, the sons of Mosiah and Enos. In their moments of crisis, they remembered the words of their parents, words of the doctrine of Jesus Christ. Remembering saved them. Even Lehi’s family was given hope that if future generations turned back to God, they would not be destroyed.

Keep it simple. Elder Eyring then bore his witness of the sacred work of teaching Heavenly Father’s children the simple doctrine of Jesus Christ. That gospel allows us to be spiritually cleansed and ultimately be welcomed into God’s presence, to live with Him and His Son in glory forever in families. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.